One topic I found really interesting in Chapter Seven was self-awareness. I never really thought about toddlers having a sense of self before. But this chapter made me realize that babies do not have a good sense of self-awareness, or a realization that he or she is a distinct individual, with body, mind, and actions that are separate from those of other people (Berger, 182, 2008). Researches did a classic experiment to test babies’ self- awareness. They put the babies in front of a mirror with a dot of rouge on their noses to see if the babies knew it was there or not. If they knew it was there they would touch their noses, indicating that they had self-awareness. Researchers developed their research even further by taking it to different countries. So they did a comparative study between babies in Cameroon and babies in Greece. They wanted to see if culture effected self-awareness. Mothers in Cameroon were known to always be holding their babies (proximal), whereas mothers in Greece were known to let their babies be more independent (distal). By 18 months babies are supposed to have a self-awareness. Studies found that babies in Cameroon didn’t recognize themselves in the test but were more obedient. Whereas babies in Greece were said to be less obedient, but were able to recognize themselves at 18 months. I think that this study shows that there needs to be a good balance between the two types of parenting, proximal and distal.
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